Opened in 1967 by Tony Koulakis, a Cretan immigrant. Eleven stools, a hob — and half a century of legend.
Born in Crete and arrived in Canada in 1954, Tony Koulakis opened Cosmo's at the age of thirty-five, in 1967, on Sherbrooke Street West, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. Eleven counter stools, no tables except in the summer on the sidewalk. For thirty-five years, he served lunches said to be “capable of causing heart palpitations” — including MishMash, an eight-ingredient omelet fried in butter.
In 2000, Montréal filmmaker Ezra Soiferman made a documentary about him, Man of Grease, finalist for the Jutra Prize for best documentary. Filmed before his retirement in 2002, the film shows him passing the house on to his children Niki and Nikos, nervous about taking his first vacation in decades.
“I am the god from the potatoes!” “, he said when a customer complimented his famous hash browns — the recipe of his wife, Erene, who peeled 150 pounds of them every day. Koulakis was murdered in 2013; his son pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The restaurant, put up for sale in 2020, nevertheless continued to open under the name of his children.